SAN JOSE — First, tires were slashed at the Prabhu family’s Saratoga home a few years back and then, there was a bizarre episode in which a dozen unbroken chicken eggs were laid in a line at the base of their long, secluded driveway.

Those were the first things that came to mind for Joe Donohoe, a former neighbor and family friend, when he heard that Naren Prabhu and his wife Raynah were gunned down at their Willow Glen home this week.

“It couldn’t have been random,” said Donohoe of the incidents that occurred at the family’s former home. “I didn’t know what to make of it, and I asked Naren. He said that there was a friend of a family member who was having some problems.”

The Prabhus installed an electric, keypad-controlled, wrought-iron security gate at the home and later, in 2015, moved out.

On Wednesday, Naren Prabhu was fatally shot as he stood in the doorway of their Willow Glen home where police say a spurned ex-boyfriend of their daughter’s then killed his wife and briefly held their 13-year-old son hostage before being shot down by a police marksman. The suspected gunman has been identified as 24-year-old Mizra Tatlic, whose last address was in Campbell.

Tatlic had a history of domestic violence, according to records, which show his mother took out a restraining order against him last summer after he unleashed a torrent of obscenities at her while smashing gashes in the walls of their home.

His mother reported that on Aug. 30 her son came into the bathroom and “took the blow dryer from my hand. He started hitting the wall, yelling at me, cursing, and calling me by names (expletive, expletive, die expletive, why didn’t you get killed).”

“After he made holes on the wall by blow dryer, he broke the door of the room, leaving door off the hinges. … He spits at me, telling me he wants me dead.”

She said the behavior had been going on for weeks and that “some days he’s more loud and verbally abusive, some days less, but it’s constant.”

But in January, she asked to end the protective order, writing that her son had improved and felt sorry for his behavior. Contacted Friday, she said simply, “I have nothing to say, sorry.”

According to KPIX 5, Tatlic had been posting disturbing messages on Instagram apparently directed at his ex-girlfriend, saying there would be “no mercy on the ones that love you most.”

Police are still investigating what led to the deaths of the Prabhus and where the gunman got his weapon, but released no new information Friday.

Naren Prabhu was a vice president of engineering at Sunnyvale-based Juniper Networks, which released a statement that said the company was “deeply saddened by the recent loss of a longtime employee.”

Donohoe, who lives across the street from the Prabhus’ former home in Saratoga, said Prabhu had been with the company since its startup years. He described the family as “really nice, pleasant and very friendly,” and fondly recalled Prabhu buying a Harley-Davidson motorcycle and learning to ride it up and down the street.

“I joked that it must be his midlife crisis,” Donohoe said. “I remember asking Raynah, ‘Are you going to get a helmet, too?’ and she just laughed.”

The family attended Holy Spirit Church in San Jose, according to the Rev. Brendan McGuire, who said he would be meeting with the couple’s devastated children Friday night, including the 13-year-old boy who was held hostage after his parents were killed and his 20-year-old brother, who ran to call for help.

They also went to Our Lady of Peace in San Jose, according to their former groundskeeper Alberto Perez, who is also a member of the congregation there.

“They were a very religious family, always very nice,” Perez said. “They told me they were selling the house because the children were growing up, they didn’t need such a big place anymore.”

The family often posted photos of each other on social media. Their daughter is shown in a photo walking down a sunny Saratoga path with her parents and brothers on Facebook with the caption: “My favorite people.” Her mother’s Facebook page has a montage of all family members — the parents in the middle — each in a heart-shaped frame with a banner reading “I will love you forever.”

Police described the gunman as mentally ill and said his ex-girlfriend had obtained a restraining order against him.

Tatlic played football and basketball at Prospect High School, where he graduated in 2010. The Prabhus daughter went to Saratoga High.

Family members could not be reached for comment. A neighbor in their private Willow Glen cul-de-sac of large, expensive homes said the Prabhus were “very dear to us,” but declined to comment further.

The family’s old neighborhood in Saratoga is similarly quiet. A next-door neighbor said the family mainly kept to themselves — the home is up a long driveway and he would only see them as they came or left — but when he did make contact, he used the same descriptors: nice, pleasant and private.

“When you live in a house that sits back like that, you are kind of off on your own,” Donohoe said. “You kind of expect it to be private.”